Friday, December 27, 2013

Not Dead Yet But I've Given It My Best Shot

I was talking about adjuncting in my last post. I know you're all dying to know what happened. Well, I did not become an adjunct. No schools around the area had available classes. The market is so flooded in New City that no one has spare adjunct appointments. That's a depressing level of phenomenal. I did promise guest lectures but people have been lax in contacting me about them. I'm ok with that.

Anyway, I've looked elsewhere. I've had a phone interview with a company in the private sector, but that didn't go anywhere. I've had an interview for a data analyst job with a policy analysis-type center at a local university. I applied for this job back in October. They went through the whole process of looking for an applicant but then had to start over for some reason. I wasn't in the first run so I don't have much hope. They won't make a decision until next year probably but I suspect that one is an inside job. They have a lot of grad students that work with them. It did give me confidence that I could do that kind of job though.

I'm still applying for alt-ac jobs at local universities and consultant/misc. jobs at teaching hospitals. Some of them I'm apparently in the running for but they seem to be moving on an academic time scale (similar to a geologic time scale). I'm also applying for some part-time/minimum-ish wage jobs to make ends meet.

I have considered going back to school for another masters degree. I inquired about this possibility in Old City and was told I do it there without cost to me (PhD's are useful for winning competitive GAs). The field I have in mind is actually related to my old research, so it wouldn't be a stretch. The field is known to people and the degree would offer some flexibility in jobs for the future. I have been un- or underemployed for two years. Something needs to change.